Hardware or Software RAID 1? What best fit for my need?


Recommended Posts

Hi guys, currently I have a machines with these spects below which is running as a server with Windows Server 2012 R2 Std:-

Intel Core2Duo E6750

Asus Commando

4 GB

500 GB X 2 (In RAID 1)

As I meantioned above, the system is currently running in RAID 1 throw the hardware configration. What I am worried about is since this motherboard is old if would be extremly difficult for me to find another motherboard that has the same configration to start the hard drives with it again. With this thought I am starting to think that it would be better for me to switch from the hardware to the software RAID 1 since it will be not throw the hardware and easy for me to start again incase of hardware failer.

Please advise me and tell me what you think before I decide.

Thank,

I'm quoting this but have long held the view that "software" raid is actually better than so called "hardware raid"!

It?s a commonly held myth that hardware RAID is unconditionally better than software RAID. That claim is not true in all cases and is particularly wrong at the low end.
There is no "hardware" RAID. RAID systems are computers running code. All RAID is software RAID. The real issue is where the RAID code is running. In hardware RAID it is running on a dedicated processor. In software RAID it is running on the system processor.
Cheap hardware RAID doesn?t have write-back caching and therefore can?t give any significant performance benefit over software RAID. Note that there are different options for how RAID stripes are laid out which can affect performance, so if a cheap hardware RAID device gives any significant performance benefit over software RAID then it?s probably due to where the blocks happen to be stored working well with your filesystem. Which is of course a benefit you could get from tuning software RAID.

The Mythical CPU Benefits of Hardware RAID:

It?s widely regarded that hardware RAID is faster due to taking the processing away from the CPU. But the truth is that for at least the last 10 years CPUs have been fast enough and in fact it?s often the case that RAID controllers are the bottleneck.

CPU benefits aside, if your OS crashes, hardware RAID will have a better chance at retaining data integrity than software.

Precisely this. In a software RAID setup you're dependent on the drivers and software alone whereas a hardware server level RAID card is engineered and tested for reliability.

"2012 R2 Std"

Really R2 -- when did that come out ;)

Booting off a software raid comes with its own issues btw. Sure if you want to mirror some data partitions, that's pretty straight forward - but actually booting off a software mirror that is done in the OS your booting bit more difficult ;)

Keep in mind that if you use software to create a RAID environment you probably won't be able to access your drives when you boot from some other media like a CD or USB drive. This can really cause havoc if you store you backup files and/or disk images on the software RAID. When the time comes and you need to restore a drive, especially your boot/system drive, you find out that your backups are nowhere to be found. A hardware RAID doesn't have this problem.

I'm quoting this but have long held the view that "software" raid is actually better than so called "hardware raid"!

"It?s a commonly held myth that hardware RAID is unconditionally better than software RAID. That claim is not true in all cases and is particularly wrong at the low end."

You seem to be reading a lot of FUD. I actually addressed a lot of this back in 2009. Of course that statement isn't true in all cases - if you can't afford hardware RAID, it's not true. If you don't need hardware RAID, it's not true. It's great if your CPU can achieve 3 GB/s of ECC calculations - unless you need that memory bandwidth and CPU cycles to actually do something useful. But if all a system does is store data, then it is useful.

"Real" hardware RAID controllers perform the ECC calculations in dedicated hardware. "Real" hardware RAID controllers leverage hardware, firmware, and software to deliver features that will be unmatched in software RAID. A reasonable analogy for a layperson is dedicated vs. onboard (now onchip) graphics. Sure, onboard will give you a desktop, but dedicated will give you gaming!

Also, you're going to need drivers for hardware RAID cards just like you're going to need drivers for software RAID arrays. Drivers for hardware have just been historically easier to come by, but any Linux rescue CD worth the CD it's burned on should be able to activate and mount (if nothing else, read only) your fakeraid/software/hardware RAID arrays.

Sounds like what you need is something cheap, so either fakeraid or software RAID will be a good choice for you. Just be sure that you:

1. Document your configuration

2. Have a recovery procedure in the event a disk fails

3. Have a spare hard drive on hand or as a hot spare (preferably more than one)

4. Periodically verify the array to ensure the contents are correct

5. Perform regular, safe, and secure backups

With a RAID 1 it doesn't matter which hardware/onboard RAID controller you use because both disks are EXACTLY THE SAME, you can freely move between any controller.

WITH RAID 1 in WINDOWS, this is a real PITA. You will need to convert to Dynamic Disk. Dynamic Disk is not a common setup and if you need to use some 3rd Party Tools to repair your Windows installation then your options are going to be very limited in what you can do.

Above all else, BACKUP. RAID is not a replacement for a backup and only a BACKUP will save your ass, a RAID will only get you keep you running temporarily until you replace a broken drive but it does not save you from anything else.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Opinion. All you did was blame Democrats for everything. You offered nothing but a hit piece to support your pro Trump, anti union right wing ideology.
    • Excuse me for having an opinion, fella'... (Why am I not surprised?...) Congrats on your very informative post however...
    • By the sounds of that wall of Fox News propaganda gibberish attacking the Democratic Party you've already had plenty of "juices" flowing this morning. You've ruined what could have been a productive comment thread.
    • (Topic to get the juices flowing this Sunday morning!...) Actually, the situation has almost nothing to do with "lack of skills", especially since assembly-line skills can be taught to anyone, including Americans, certainly. Rather, the inadequacy-to-impossibility of large-scale tech manufacturing in America today, and the reasons why America finds tech manufacturing completely onerous in the 21st century, has to do with politically driven laws amid a plethora of non-scientific, utterly politicized "science-fact" that is patently false, punitive business taxation at every turn, an array of judicial fines of unimaginable scope and complexity, and, last but not least, American unionization strictures that serve to actually slay job creation and hobble all such manufacturing endeavors in America before they can get off the ground. Globalism emerged, they tell us, as the needed answer to American hubris and an unholy American drive to excel. Unless one is buried under mounds of political propaganda, it's easy to see the absurdity of labeling the employees of SpaceX, for instance, as "unskilled labor"... Etc. ad infinitum. At one time in the recent past, American manufacturing prowess was the envy of the world in a wide variety of technical fields! The current federal and state government roadblocks against America becoming competitive globally in tech manufacturing are considerable, it's true, as anyone with a working brain knows. But remarkably, that is only half the story! The other half of the story is, of course, the corporations themselves... Chinese tech manufacturing is simply unassailable in terms of profits, because the Chinese government wants to see its tech manufacturing second-to-none globally so that no companies/nations can compete in terms of ROI, and China has completely succeeded in that goal. Let's tic-off a few things: *Chinese tariff policies are set according to what is considered best for Chinese business, Chinese employees, and the Chinese people. Huge difference with how things are done with tariffs in the US--as the US government (SCOTUS in this case, Congress in others) plainly feels that tariffs are "unfair" for the limited number of citizens who may pay them, whereas nothing is "unfair" when Congress considers the Personal Income Tax rates to be infinitely hike-able, along with infinitely enlarging annual budget deficits. *The Chinese government boldly subsidizes Chinese companies to artificially amplify their profits. *The Chinese government deliberately refuses to avidly demonize Chinese businesses and does not consider Chinese businesses "the enemy", so very unlike American (D)s these days. *Chinese labor laws and businesses are allowed to set their own labor policies according to what Chinese companies consider is best for companies and their employees... Simply put, American workers in tech manufacturing are not allowed to set their own labor policies! * One additional problem corporations have that I also do not sympathize with is they don't want to pay to train their American employees. They could easily do so, but would rather not have to pay for it. I find that pathetic, actually. It is the height of hypocrisy for Americans to decry working conditions in China while simultaneously ensuring that American products are manufactured in China, not in the US, simply to maximize profits. There is nothing wrong with making a profit, of course, absolutely nothing. But there is plenty wrong with attempts to normalize hypocrisy of this kind! But rank hypocrisy and the (D) party in the US are longtime bedfellows... The current government in Washington is working overtime to see if it can toss out the horribly poor, failed economic policies of the past, while the (D)s still in Washington work very hard to bring back the stupidity whenever possible. With the right policies in place, America can be an infinitely competitive manufacturer.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Conversation Starter
      jessse3334 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Reacting Well
      JuvenileDelinquent earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Excellence2025 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      508
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      198
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      152
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      73
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      62
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!